SONGS. 189 
ists, and adopted by poets, is, that the singing of 
birds is the language of courtship and affection. 
“The song of male birds,” says Buffon, “ springs 
from the emotion of love: the canary in his cage, 
the greenbird in the fields, the oriole in the woods, 
chant their notes with a fond, sonorous voice, and 
their mates reply in more feeble strains.” He adds, 
what is by no means the fact, that ‘the nightingale, 
when he first arrives in spring, is silent, begins with 
faltering, infrequent airs, and it is not till the dam 
sits on her eggs that he pours out the warm melody 
of his heart: then he relieves and sooths her te- 
dious incubation; then he redoubles his caresses, 
and warbles with deeper pathos.” On the contrary, 
we uniformly observe among the innumerable night- 
ingales which annually arrive in our neighbourhood 
in spring, that the males sing out in as full, clear 
notes on their first appearance (usually many days 
before the arrival of the females) as they ever do 
afterward. Buffon concludes that his opinion de- 
rives additional support from the circumstance of 
song-birds becoming silent, or their notes being less 
sweet after the breeding season is over. 
Another naturalist of eminence, Colonel Monta- 
su, is more circumstantial in his arguments for the 
same opinion; and though we do not agree altogeth- 
er with his explanations, the greater number of his 
facts are unquestionable. ‘The males of song- 
birds,” he says, “‘and many others, do not, in gen- 
eral, search for the female; but, on the contrary, 
their business in the spring is to perch on some 
conspicuous spot, breathing out their full notes, 
which, by instinct, the female knows, and repairs 
to the spot to choose her mate. This is particu- 
larly verified with respect to the summer-birds of 
passage. The nightingale, and most of its genus, 
although timid and shy to a great degree, mount 
aloft, and incessantly pour forth their strains, each 
seemingly vying in its love-laboured song before 
